The Surprising Way Wal-Mart And Microsoft Cut Turnover And Improve Product

Guilherme Braga was a 15-year-old exchange student in Michigan when he had the moment of insight that eventually led him to found a fast-growing, profitable Brazilian startup, Egalite, that is receiving international attention.

Braga was struggling in an algebra class when the boy sitting next to him, said, “Do you need some help? Did you understand?” He recognized that Braga was struggling with the language and the different curriculum.

The boy was Andrew; he was quadripalegic, and brilliant in math. “He explained everything,” Braga remembered. The two struck up a friendship that went outside math class, though they’ve since lost touch.

Moments of insight often came when entrepreneurs, or entrepreneurs-to-be, are vulnerable. The friendship changed Braga enough so that, nearly a decade later, when he heard about a law employers were struggling to live with in Brazil, he saw an opportunity. The law mandates that companies with more than 100 employees set aside a quota of jobs, 2-5% for people with disabilities (such laws are present in a handful of countries, though not the United States).

When he founded his company at the age of 23, Braga tapped into a big opportunity – an estimated 12% of the male population of the world, and nearly 20% of the female population of the world have a disability (that’s about 1.12 billion people; of them, about 52 million Americans.)

His company, which now has $350,000 in annual revenue, helps train and recruit employees with disabilities for big companies, including Wal-Mart’s operation in Brazil. Its innovative tech platform– much of it delivered via Facebook – has won it international recognition in the form of a grant from the Ruderman Family Foundation. Braga plans to expand to the United States.

Innovative ways to include people with disabilities in the workforce are a hot topic now in America and elsewhere. Two things seem to be driving the conversation: first, businesses are struggling to find a stable, skilled workforce. Second, in the wake of Donald Trump’s election and the rise of nationalism, there’s a countervailing concern about the decline of empathy across the corporate world and in society. Working alongside people who are different is seen as a remedy.

One of the things I remember most clearly, however, is how Anu’s reaction to Zain’s birth was immediately so different from mine. For Anu [his wife], it was never about what this meant for her — it was always about what it meant for Zain and how we could best care for him. Rather than asking “why us?” she instinctually felt his pain before her own. … Becoming a father of a son with special needs was the turning point in my life that has shaped who I am today. It has helped me better understand the journey of people with disabilities. It has shaped my personal passion for and philosophy of connecting new ideas to empathy for others. And it is why I am deeply committed to pushing the bounds on what love and compassion combined with human ingenuity and passion to have impact can accomplish with my colleagues at Microsoft.

Microsoft now has an autism hiring program, among other initiatives. The company believes having people with disabilities inside the company improves its products.

“When you speak about inclusion and diversity you truly look at things differently. You come up with different ideas and policies that other companies don’t,” said Shira Ruderman, director of the $200 million Ruderman Family Foundation. “I view awareness of disability as a big asset. Society is built out of many things.”